Marian University, August 2010

Unit Plan

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Reading Nursery Rhymes

Duration: 5 weeks

Objectives

  • Students will use repeated reading of nursery rhyme books in order to memorize the books and begin building a collection of books that can be read independently.
  • Students will develop emergent literacy skills: concepts of print, letter recognition, letter/sound relationships, and voice-print matching.

Materials

  • Copies of nursery rhyme books from Reading A to Z: Itsy Bitsy Spider; Baa Baa Black Sheep; Jack and Jill; Mary Had a Little Lamb; Hey, Diddle Diddle; Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat; Ladybug, Ladybug; Humpty Dumpty; To Market; Two Blackbirds.
  • Big book versions of nursery rhymes for shared reading time.
  • iPods and podcasts of each poem to facilitate assisted reading.

Standards Addressed

Wisconsin Model Academic Standards

  • A.4.1 Use effective reading strategies to achieve their purposes in reading.
  • E.4.1 Use computers to acquire, organize, analyze, and communicate information.

K5 Language Arts Learning Targets – St. Francis School District

  • Use a variety of strategies to derive meaning from fiction and non-fiction text.
  • Associate sounds with letters.
  • Is immersed in a print rich environment that allows for self-selection.
  • Begins to recognize some sight words.
  • Relies on memorization of story.
  • Participate in a home school reading component.

Procedures

This unit will last for 5 weeks. Each week, 2 nursery rhymes will be used throughout the week for instruction during the literacy block. Each week, the following components will be included:
  • Introduce the nursery rhymes to the class using the big book version of the rhymes during shared reading time.
  • During shared reading lessons, the following concepts will be covered: concepts of print, letter recognition, letter/sound correspondence, rhyme awareness, voice-print matching, and reading with fluency.
  • During small group instruction time, the nursery rhymes will be used as the context for targeted instruction that matches the needs of the students in each group. Instruction will focus on the following areas: concepts of print, letter recognition, letter/sound correspondence, rhyme awareness, voice-print matching and reading with fluency.
  • During literacy center time, students will have access to copies of the nursery rhyme books and iPods with assisted reading podcasts, so that they can engage in assisted reading of the books. Students will learn to point to the words as the podcast plays and also to read along with the podcast in a quiet reading voice.
  • Students will also participate in a variety of literacy centers that use the nursery rhymes as a context for practicing literacy skills (e.g. word work, handwriting, fine motor development, rhyming, and retelling the story with puppets).
  • Copies of the books will be sent home for the students to share with their families.


Assessment

Pre-assessment

The following concepts and skills will be assessed during the first week fo school as part of the K5 entrance screening.
  • Letter identification
  • Letter/ sound identification
  • Rhyme awareness
  • Voice- print match

Post assessment

Following the Nursery Rhyme unit, students will be reassessed on the pre-assessment concepts and skills.

In addition, students will be assessed to measure their ability to read the nursery rhyme books independently.